Hong Kong – A Canary in the Coal Mine

At the end of May, I wrote two columns on the enormous threat China is posing for America. I reviewed how their unfair and deceptive trade practices put us into increasing peril.
To counteract this threat we are engaging in a tariff war.  I reviewed the reasons we took the gamble of liberalizing our trade relations with them in the first place, in the hope they would choose the prosperity brought on by trade, as opposed to ongoing tensions. 
Our offer was coyly accepted, as they bought time to strengthen their commercial, industrial and military base, in pursuit of their 100-year plan of world domination.  
Where the world now stands parallels where the world found itself during the rise of Nazi Germany, which we ignored until it was too late.
Throughout this summer, there has been a development that underscores the danger we face.
Hong Kong,  the former British Crown Colony, has erupted in million-member demonstrations for the last three months over China’s infringements upon their freedoms. China guaranteed Hong Kong these freedoms when the U. K. returned the colony. China is now reneging on these freedom guarantees. 
China’s actions this summer are a canary in the coal mine, demonstrating the reality of the threat Beijing presents to us and the world, if left unchecked.
The world is now seeing what a world dominated by China would look like, by viewing their oppressive actions against the Hong Kong people. Our size and might used to be sufficient in guaranteeing our freedom from outside aggression, but no longer; China’s population is four times the size of ours, and their productive economy is growing more rapidly.
We would do well not to forget the adage, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The greater the concentration of power,  the greater the desire for more of it.
The authoritarian Chinese communist power has amassed control over 1.3 billion people, and are placing 600 million cameras to watch them. They have millions of people monitoring everything the Chinese people say and do.  If the communist party doesn’t like what someone says or does, that person is denied access to all manner of things, including travel rights.
In America, we, the people, are sovereign, and we establish government to serve the needs we have decided upon. In China, that is turned on its ear.
We have avoided a third world war for three-quarters of a century. To ensure another world war does not break out in the years ahead, we need to be on guard and be willing to bite the bullet when the need arises.
That need may arise going into the Christmas shopping season, with the trade war driving up prices and pinching our wallets. It may also affect our well-being by driving down the stock market. “A stitch in time saves nine.” Better to stitch things up early, than to allow the rip to grow bigger and need nine stitches later.
We’ve got to buck up and do whatever we’ve got to do.
Do we need to confront China? Yes.  So let’s do it; and whatever the pain, we can console ourselves in the knowledge that to wait would only be more painful.